Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 532 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,363 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 532 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

META stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $612.51 and a 200-day moving average of $607.32.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.